What is 'Moore's Law'

Moore's law refers to an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon

Moore in 1965. He noticed that the number of transistors per square inch
on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention.
Moore's law predicts that this trend will continue into the foreseeable
future. Although the pace has slowed, the number of transistors per
square inch has since doubled approximately every 18 months. This is
used as the current definition of Moore's law.

BREAKING DOWN 'Moore's Law'

Because Moore's law suggests exponential growth, it is unlikely to
continue indefinitely. Most experts expect Moore's law to hold for another
two decades. Some studies have shown physical limitations could be
reached by 2017.
The extension of Moore's law is that computers, machines that run on
computers, and computing power all become smaller and faster with
time, as transistors on integrated circuits become more efficient.
Transistors are simple electronic on/off switches embedded in
microchips, processors and tiny electrical circuits. The faster microchips
process electrical signals, the more efficient a computer becomes.
Costs of these higher-powered computers eventually came down as well,
usually about 30 percent per year. When designers increased the
performance of computers with better integrated circuits, manufacturers
were able to create better machines that could automate certain
processes. This automation created lower-priced products for
consumers, as the hardware created lower labor costs.

Contemporary Society

Fifty years after Moore's law, contemporary society sees dozens of

benefits from his vision. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet
computers, would not work without very small processors. Smaller and
faster computers improve transportation, health care, education and
energy production. Just about every facet of a high-tech society benefits
from the concept of Moore's law put into practice.

The Future
Thanks to nanotechnology, some transistors are smaller than a virus.
These microscopic structures contain carbon and silicon molecules
aligned in perfect fashion that help move electricity along the circuit
faster. Eventually, the temperature of the transistors make it impossible
to create smaller circuits, because cooling the transistors takes more
energy than what passes through the transistors. Experts show that
computers should reach physical limits of Moore's law sometime in the
2020s. When that happens, computer scientists can examine entirely
new ways of creating computers.
Applications and software can improve the speed and efficiency of
computers in the future, rather than physical processes. Cloud
computing, wireless communication, the Internet of Things and quantum
physics may all play a role in innovating computer technology. Many
designers, engineers and computer scientists agreed in early 2016 that
Moore's law may run its course within 10 years. Progress achieving the
doubling of the number of circuits has slowed, and integrated circuits
cannot get much smaller as transistors approach the size of an atom.
Some time in the future, software or hardware breakthroughs may keep
the dream of Moore's law alive. However, the computer industry seems
ready to veer to another course moving forward from 2016.

Microprocessors[edit]
See also: microprocessor chronology
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single
integrated circuit. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input,
processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output.

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

TMS 1000

8,000

1974[3]

Texas
Instruments

8,000 nm

Intel 4004

2,300

1971

Intel

10,000 n
m

12 mm

Intel 8008

3,500

1972

Intel

10,000 n
m

14 mm

MOS Technology
6502

3,510[4]

1975

MOS
Technology

8,000 nm

21 mm

Motorola 6800

4,100

1974

Motorola

6,000 nm

16 mm

Intel 8080

4,500

1974

Intel

6,000 nm

20 mm

RCA 1802

5,000

1974

RCA

5,000 nm

27 mm

Intel 8085

6,500

1976

Intel

3,000 nm

20 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

Zilog Z80

8,500

1976

Zilog

4,000 nm

18 mm

Motorola 6809

9,000

1978

Motorola

5,000 nm

21 mm

Intel 8086

29,000

1978

Intel

3,000 nm

33 mm

Intel 8088

29,000

1979

Intel

3,000 nm

33 mm

WDC 65C02

11,500[5]

1981

WDC

3,000 nm

6 mm

Intel 80186

55,000

1982

Intel

3,000 nm

60 mm

Motorola 68000

68,000

1979

Motorola

3,500 nm

44 mm

Intel 80286

134,000

1982

Intel

1,500 nm

49 mm

WDC 65C816

22,000[6]

1983

WDC

Motorola 68020

190,000[7]

1984

Motorola

2,000 nm

85 mm

Intel 80386

275,000

1985

Intel

1,500 nm

104 mm

ARM 1

25,000[7]

1985

Acorn

3,000 nm

50 mm

Novix NC4016

16,000[8]

1985[9]

Harris
Corporation

3,000 nm[

9 mm

10]

Date of
introducti
on

Processor

Transistor
count

Proces
s

Area

ARM 2

30,000[7]

1986

Acorn

2,000 nm

30 mm

TI Explorer's 32bit Lisp machinechi

p

553,000[11]

1987

Texas
Instruments

DEC WRL
MultiTitan

180,000[12]

1988

DEC WRL

1,500 nm

61 mm

Intel i960

250,000[13]

1988

Intel

600 nm

Intel 80486

1,180,235

1989

Intel

1000 nm

173 mm

ARM 3

300,000

1989

Acorn

R4000

1,350,000

1991

MIPS

1,000 nm

213 mm

ARM 6

35,000

1991

ARM

Pentium

3,100,000

1993

Intel

800 nm

294 mm

ARM700

578,977[14]

1994

ARM

SA-110

2,500,000[7]

1995

Acorn/DEC/App
le

350 nm

50 mm

ARM 9TDMI

111,000[7]

1999

Acorn

350 nm

4.8 mm

Designer

68.51 m
m

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

Pentium Pro

5,500,000[15]

1995

Intel

500 nm

307 mm

AMD K5

4,300,000

1996

AMD

500 nm

251 mm

Pentium II Klamath

7,500,000

1997

Intel

350 nm

195 mm

Pentium
II Deschutes

7,500,000

1998

Intel

250 nm

113 mm

AMD K6

8,800,000

1997

AMD

350 nm

162 mm

Pentium III Katmai

9,500,000

1999

Intel

250 nm

128 mm

Pentium
III Coppermine

21,000,000

2000

Intel

180 nm

80 mm

Pentium II Mobile
Dixon

27,400,000

1999

Intel

180 nm

180 mm

Pentium III Tualatin

45,000,000

2001

Intel

130 nm

81 mm

AMD K6-III

21,300,000

1999

AMD

250 nm

118 mm

AMD K7

22,000,000

1999

AMD

250 nm

184 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

Pentium
4 Willamette

42,000,000

2000

Intel

180 nm

217 mm

Pentium
4 Northwood

55,000,000

2002

Intel

130 nm

145 mm

Pentium 4 Prescott

112,000,000

2004

Intel

90 nm

110 mm

Pentium 4 Prescott2M

169,000,000

2005

Intel

90 nm

143 mm

Pentium 4 Cedar
Mill

184,000,000

2006

Intel

65 nm

90 mm

Pentium
D Smithfield

228,000,000

2005

Intel

90 nm

206 mm

Pentium D Presler

362,000,000

2006

Intel

65 nm

162 mm

Atom

47,000,000

2008

Intel

45 nm

24 mm

Barton

54,300,000

2003

AMD

130 nm

101 mm

AMD K8

105,900,000

2003

AMD

130 nm

193 mm

Itanium 2 McKinley

220,000,000

2002

Intel

180 nm

421 mm

Cell

241,000,000

2006

Sony/IBM/Toshi

90 nm

221 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

ba

Core 2 Duo Conroe

291,000,000

2006

Intel

65 nm

143 mm

Core 2
Duo Allendale

169,000,000

2007

Intel

65 nm

111 mm

Itanium 2 Madison
6M

410,000,000

2003

Intel

130 nm

374 mm

AMD K10 quadcore 2M L3

463,000,000[16]

2007

AMD

65 nm

283 mm

ARM Cortex-A9

26,000,000[17]

2007

ARM

45 nm

31 mm

Core 2
Duo Wolfdale 3M

230,000,000

2008

Intel

45 nm

83 mm

Itanium 2 with
9 MB cache

592,000,000

2004

Intel

130 nm

432 mm

Core 2
Duo Wolfdale

411,000,000

2007

Intel

45 nm

107 mm

Core i7 (Quad)

731,000,000

2008

Intel

45 nm

263 mm

AMD K10 quadcore 6M L3

758,000,000[16]

2008

AMD

45 nm

258 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

POWER6

789,000,000

2007

IBM

65 nm

341 mm

Six-core Opteron 24
00

904,000,000

2009

AMD

45 nm

346 mm

16-core SPARC T3

1,000,000,000[18]

2010

Sun/Oracle

40 nm

377 mm

Apple A7 (dualcore ARM64"mobil

e SoC")

1,000,000,000

2013

Apple

28 nm

102 mm

Quad-core
+ GPU Core i7

1,160,000,000

2011

Intel

32 nm

216 mm

Six-core Core
i7 (Gulftown)

1,170,000,000

2010

Intel

32 nm

240 mm

8-core POWER7 32
M L3

1,200,000,000

2010

IBM

45 nm

567 mm

8-core AMD
Bulldozer

1,200,000,000[19]

2012

AMD

32 nm

315 mm

Quad-core +
GPU AMD Trinity

1,303,000,000

2012

AMD

32 nm

246 mm

Quad-core z196[20]

1,400,000,000

2010

IBM

45 nm

512 mm

Quad-core +

1,400,000,000

2012

Intel

22 nm

160 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

GPU Core i7 Ivy

Bridge

Quad-core +
GPU Core i7
Haswell

1,400,000,000[21]

2014

Intel

22 nm

177 mm

Dual-core Itanium 2

1,700,000,000[22]

2006

Intel

90 nm

596 mm

Quad-core + GPU
GT2 Core i7
Skylake K

1,750,000,000

2015

Intel

14 nm

122 mm

Six-core Core i7 Ivy

Bridge E

1,860,000,000

2013

Intel

22 nm

256 mm

Duo-core + GPU
Iris Core i7
Broadwell-U

1,900,000,000[23]

2015

Intel

14 nm

133 mm

Six-core Xeon 7400

1,900,000,000

2008

Intel

45 nm

503 mm

Quad-core
Itanium Tukwila

2,000,000,000[24]

2010

Intel

65 nm

699 mm

Apple A8 (dual-core
ARM64 "mobile
SoC")

2,000,000,000

2014

Apple

20 nm

89 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

8-core POWER7+ 8
0 MB L3 cache

2,100,000,000

2012

IBM

32 nm

567 mm

Six-core Core i7/8core Xeon E5

(Sandy BridgeE/EP)

2,270,000,000[25]

2011

Intel

32 nm

434 mm

8-core Xeon Nehale

m-EX

2,300,000,000[26]

2010

Intel

45 nm

684 mm

8-core Core i7
Haswell-E

2,600,000,000[27]

2014

Intel

22 nm

355 mm

10-core Xeon West

mere-EX

2,600,000,000

2011

Intel

32 nm

512 mm

Six-core zEC12

2,750,000,000

2012

IBM

32 nm

597 mm

Apple A8X (tri-core

ARM64 "mobile
SoC")

3,000,000,000[28]

2014

Apple

20 nm

128 mm

8-core
Itanium Poulson

3,100,000,000

2012

Intel

32 nm

544 mm

Apple A10 (quadcore ARM64

"mobile SoC")

3,300,000,000

2016

Apple

16 FFC

125 mm

IBM z13

3,990,000,000

2015

IBM

22 nm

678 mm

Processor

Transistor
count

Date of
introducti
on

Designer

Proces
s

Area

12-core POWER8

4,200,000,000

2013

IBM

22 nm

650 mm

15-core Xeon Ivy

Bridge-EX

4,310,000,000[29]

2014

Intel

22 nm

541 mm

61-core Xeon Phi

5,000,000,000[30]

2012

Intel

22 nm

720 mm

Xbox One main SoC

5,000,000,000

2013

Microsoft/AMD

28 nm

363 mm

18-core Xeon
Haswell-E5

5,560,000,000[31]

2014

Intel

22 nm

661 mm

IBM z13 Storage

Controller

7,100,000,000

2015

IBM

22 nm

678 mm

22-core Xeon
Broadwell-E5

7,200,000,000[32]

2016

Intel

14 nm

456 mm

SPARC M7

10,000,000,00
0[33]

2015

Oracle

20 nm